IBM’s Pandemic Response: ‘Trust Your Supplier’ Blockchain — AI Daily

This pandemic has forced the world into becoming more and more digital. The reliance on online services has exploded in the past few months because of the critical role they play in keeping things running smoothly. Many businesses are working hard to migrate their operations to online platforms.

Due to COVID-19 many supply chains were completely disrupted as the suppliers suddenly ran out of crucial goods and the end consumers needed these goods now more than ever. Certain sectors, such as the companies in the food and healthcare industry need innovation in the supply chain space to stay on top of customer demands in these testing times. For example, Ford is helping the American government combat COVID-19 through the production of medical ventilators (50 000 units to be made within 100 days) and respirator masks for healthcare workers. Meeting such deadlines would be virtually impossible with their normal suppliers.

Businesses have had to move to new suppliers for their business to meet demands. However, validation of a single new supplier typically takes 30-45 days; which is time they cannot afford to lose. Blockchain could be the answer…

Blockchains introduce digital trust between parties and remove all the general trepidation that the data might be mishandled or misused which in turn reduces the friction causes friction in the usage and movement of the data at hand. Blockchain provides a trusted platform for data exchange where all sources/entities are verified, confirmed and controlled which preserves privacy.